CDCs listed their top three challenges. Funding was easily the most frequently mentioned challenge across all CDCs. One unexpected common response was barriers to collaboration such as excess regulations, politics, unwillingness of another party to collaborate or lots of organizations working towards the same goal with no cooperative strategy. There were widely varied responses outside of the common challenges above, including:

Mission drift, or saying ‘no’ to things that do not fit in the organization’s mission

Deficiencies in the public education system

Managing a growing organization

Lack of board diversity

Having more qualified applicants than the CDC can provide affordable housing for